Hexagonal comb cells of honeybees are not produced via a liquid equilibrium process
Daniel Bauer & Kaspar Bienefeld
Naturwissenschaften (2013) 100:45–49

Pirk et al. (2004) suggested that bees heat up
previously constructed cylindrical precursor cells, thereby
forcing the wax on the cell surfaces into a liquid equilibrium.
In this state, the arrays of closely packed cylinders tend to
organise themselves into an energetically favoured hexagonal
cell form. However, the results of the current study suggest
that the geometry of the developing cells is generated by
mechanical shaping and not by the self-organised process
postulated by the liquid equilibrium hypothesis.

Tautz (2008) stated that a
wax temperature of 40 °C is necessary to initiate a liquid
equilibrium state, but this wax temperature was never
achieved during the cell-building process observed in the
current study

The hexagonal structure of a complete cell appeared to be
determined at the beginning of its construction. The current
study found no round precursor cells, except during the very
early phase in the building of the cell foundations. After the
upward construction of the walls commenced, the three
bottom plates became rhomboid in shape and the cell took
on a hexagonal form.

Further evidence that the hexagonal cell form is built by
mechanical shaping can be found in the nests of social
wasps, which are made of cellulose
so they lack thermoplasticity and need to be softened using
saliva (Karsai and Pénzes 1993).

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